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Celebrating Halloween with Isadora Moon


A little while ago Mini Reviewer, Izzie (5), won a book token at school and so off we went to our local bookshop where she picked out a new book all by herself. It was Isadora Moon Gets in Trouble by Harriet Muncaster. We read it together and that was it, she was hooked and wanted to read the whole collection. 

Festive Delights: Winter Reading Fun!

Today we continue our Festive Delights series by sharing a trio of snow-filled books that truly celebrate the beauty of Winter. Towards the end of the post, you will also find a few fun and really easy ideas for getting your little ones excited about reading throughout Winter months. But first, let's take a peek at those beautiful snowy books...


Christmas Gifts for Little Bookworms

It's that time of year again and every child is starting to prepare a very special list but with three children all of a similar age, our house already seems overloaded with toys and that is before Santa has made his deliveries! So with that in mind, we thought we would share a few ideas that may inspire others to "think outside the (toy) box" this Christmas. Here are our top Christmas gifts for little bookworms...

Festive Delights: The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Peep-through Picture Book

Hello, we have another fantastic Festive Delight to share with you today, but first you may remember that we recently shared our favourite budget ways to grow your child's book collection. If you missed our post and would like to take a look, click here


Our top suggestion was to visit your local library and get borrowing! We regularly pop to our nearby library and in the run up to Christmas last year, we were amazed by the incredible selection of seasonal books available. So if you are looking for some festive reads for you or your kids this year, do drop in! Also libraries sometimes host book sales to sell off their "retired" books and you can often pick up some great bargains. It is actually how we came to own today's Festive Delight, The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Peep-through Picture Book.

Festive Delights: Three Little Owls

Today we are sharing our second Festive Delight for 2017, a stunning new collectable edition of Three Little Owls, which was kindly sent to us by Tate Publishing.



This whimsical festive treat was originally written in Italian by Emanuele Luzzati. John Yeoman has written the English version, which has been beautifully illustrated by one of our all time favourite illustrators, Quentin Blake.

Festive Delights: Supertato: Evil Pea Rules!

After a little break from reviewing, we are back and ready to tackle some festive delights. Throughout 2016 we read a different book each day and during Advent the books were chosen by our cheeky elf on the bookshelf, Elvis. If you missed it, you can read all about Elvis' excellent choices and the chaos he caused here: The Elf on the Bookshelf.


Getting Crafty with Goodnight Spaceman #WorldSpaceWeek

To celebrate World Space Week (4th - 10th October) we have been getting crafty with Goodnight Spaceman thanks to Puffin Books and Ora. We made a fabulous space scene following this very easy tutorial on Puffin's website, which takes advantage of Ora's uniquely shaped round kitchen towels (although any paper towel could be used). This little project is suitable for the whole family, even Mini Reviewer, Poppy (1), got stuck in! Just take a peek at how we got on.


Language Learning Part 3: Flashcard Fun with Lil'ollo

Welcome to the third part of our Language Learning series: Flashcard fun with Lil'ollo, if you are joining us for the first time "Hello" or rather "Hallo"! We have previously looked at introducing languages through song and stories with an emphasis on learning German. However, the resources and products we have shared are available in many other languages too, so you may wish to take a look at our earlier posts: Language Learning Part 1: Singing with Lingotastic and Language Learning Part 2: STORIES.



Hello October: Books to welcome Autumn and celebrate Halloween

Hello October! Autumn is well and truly here and with it those chilly mornings and dark evenings. However, with plenty of puddles to splash in; leaves to throw; and conkers to collect, we think it could be our favourite time of year! So we are really looking forward to the half term holiday at the end of the month and, of course, Halloween!


Last year we celebrated Halloween with some spooky book-inspired baking and crafts, before dressing up and going trick or treating. We also read a few "not-so-scary" Halloween books. You can read all about last year's stories here and, in anticipation of this year's celebrations, we have already added a few more "not-so-scary" books to our collection.